Darnold keeps landing big offers

The quarterback dominoes continue to fall into place and after Oregon missed on some quarterback targets that has played to the benefit of San Clemente, Calif., standout Sam Darnold, who landed an offer from the Ducks on Wednesday.

The Oregon coaches have been in touch for about a month and after Blake Barnett committed to Alabama over the Ducks the Pac-12 power moved on Darnold. There is definitely mutual interest.

"They've been in touch," San Clemente coach Jaime Ortiz said. "They had a little bit later window because they had spring ball run so late. We had our showcase on May 21 and coach (Steve) Greatwood and coach (Scott) Frost were here. They had an opportunity to evaluate Sam and really at that point things started clicking a little bit.

"With Sam being hurt last year, it really delayed things with a lot of programs but now schools are coming out of the woodwork a little more and more."

Darnold, a 6-foot-4, 190-pound standout, has seen his recruitment take off in recent months. So far, the San Clemente standout has been offered by Colorado State, Duke, Nevada, Northwestern, Oregon, Oregon State, San Diego State, Tennessee, Utah and Wake Forest.

The three-star quarterback camped at Stanford this week and apparently things went well there.

"He already knew before he went to the Stanford camp that he had some great opportunities with Northwestern and Tennessee and Utah and all the other schools that have offered him," Ortiz said. "Anything from this point forward is just icing on the cake.

"When he went up to Stanford it was the pretense that he'd have the opportunity to compete for a scholarship. Sam is the type of kid who thought he did well, probably could have done a little better. He went out and competed and did a good job and now it's up to the Stanford coaches to make their decision. If Stanford offers, that's great for Sam but he has a lot of opportunities with other schools."

Every time Darnold tries to figure out his recruitment more schools get involved. But Ortiz said by late summer his star quarterback should have a strong idea what he wants to do with his commitment.

"When the dust settles, there are all these other schools coming at him," Ortiz said. "That window from July 1-July 15 there is no contact from schools and his next big focus is the Elite 11 and doing the best he can there and hopefully get some recognition there and compete against the best of the best.

"After that, he'll probably just filter things out. As we get to late July I think he'll have a pretty good idea of where schools fit in."